Undoubtedly one of the most anticipated horror releases of the year, Weapons starts strong with an utterly compelling, creepy premise and doesn’t let up on horrifying, strange imagery until all the pieces of its central mystery fall into place. It’s the kind of slow-burn weirdness that seeps into your brain, and as it veers from bonkers moment to bonkers moment, I couldn’t help but giggle at just how wild it all is. It’s a darkly funny, deeply uncomfortable couple of hours that stands out as one of the more captivating modern horror movies in recent memory.
I’ll keep this review spoiler-free, but I do recommend going into Weapons knowing as little as possible, as half the fun is trying to figure out just what the hell this movie is, and it’s full of unexpected and delightful twists and turns.
Weapons immediately sets the tone for the unrelentingly odd vibes ahead. One day, at 2:17 am, 17 kids from the same classroom all woke up, got out of bed, left their homes and ran into the night, never to be seen again. The haunting imagery of the children running off into the darkness, arms straight out at their sides, makes for a strong start and immediately raises a lot of questions. Mostly, why did this happen? Where did they go? And why are they all from the same classroom?
Justine Gandy (Julia Garner) stars as the teacher of said class, as she’s accused by grieving parents; surely, she must have something to do with this. It’s established that she struggles somewhat with boundaries when it comes to her students, and questions around her involvement in the strange tragedy keep things ticking along, while she, too, comes to grips with what has occurred. Garner does a lot of the heavy lifting in setting the tone for what’s to come, and she does a brilliant job of keeping us on edge while being on the brink herself.
“Each chapter ends in a WTF moment that keeps you hooked with each layer that follows.”
One of the parents, Archer (Josh Brolin), leads the witch hunt against Justine, and his own sleuthing in an attempt to solve the mystery makes for some of the lighter moments. Brolin is excellent here, too, as the gruff grieving father does his best to take matters into his own hands. It’s a strong performance from each of Weapons other core cast members as well; the film is broken up into different points of view, one chunk at a time, with each perspective offering breadcrumbs to follow, while maintaining a sense of uneasiness that you can’t quite shake off. Each chapter ends in a WTF moment that keeps you hooked with each layer that follows. Benedict Wong is a standout as Principal Marcus, trying his best to navigate the tragedy that has occurred at his school, while Alden Ehrenreich is entertaining as a somewhat bumbling town cop.
Austin Abrams is fantastic as a nervy transient drug addict, offering some genuine belly laughs whenever he is on screen, while a shout-out must be given to Cary Christopher as Alex, the only one of Justine’s pupils who didn’t disappear. Younger actors can be hit and miss, but he nails it here, carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders as the spooks unravel around him. Everybody reacts to what’s going on naturally; there’s some weird stuff happening in this little town, and the confusion and concern are palpable as things crescendo into a deeply satisfying and horrifying finale.
Zach Cregger, after a directorial standout horror effort in his 2022 film, Barbarian, expertly navigates the tone of Weapons. He lingers just long enough on devilishly creepy shots, letting you marinade in the dread of it all, and the film confidently produces effective jump scares and cringeworthy gross-out moments in kind. It’s the sort of intensity where you can’t help but laugh out loud, and that’s what our cinema audience did throughout. There’s an absurdity to what’s going on, and it’s a fine line that Cregger walks elegantly; a surreal, nightmare-fuelled exercise that will have you glued to your seat, maybe even sweating a little, then chuckling out of sheer relief.
Where other horror films reveal too much too quickly, or waste time on diversions and red herrings that lead nowhere, Weapons feels tightly paced despite its 2-hour 7-minute runtime. As we spend more time with all of the characters that have been touched by the disappearance in very different ways, bouncing across timelines and learning more with each scene, it reaches a gratifying boiling point where it all comes together and the sinister solution is revealed.
It’s the kind of movie that immediately makes you want to debrief with your mates about what you’ve just seen, laugh at the absurdity of it all, and it has stayed in my thoughts for the days and nights that have followed. Put simply, it’s a must-watch.
Weapons is in cinemas now.
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Checkpoint Gaming attended a screening of Weapons as a guest of Warner Bros Australia.
About the Author
Luke Mitchell
he/him
Luke spends his time making radio, playing video games, binge-watching TV, getting unreasonably invested in wrestling, and hanging out with his beautiful pets.
